The business and society that emerges on the other side of the COVID-19 disruptions will be vastly different. The business culture will change drastically. A greater thrust to telecommuting, increased digitalization, a premium on agility and sustainability, new normals in collaboration, and several changes to status-quo underline the cultural changes most businesses will undergo as a response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The end of the office?

COVID-19 has made working from home the new normal. Work-from-home was always a win-win situation. It helps employees achieve better work-life balance, and reduce the overhead of employers. Businesses caught up in the status-quo and fearing disruption resisted large-scale shifts. With the COVID-19 crisis, enterprises already have a work-from-home model thrust upon them. With the disruption caused by the changeover out of the way, there is no looking back for work-from-home.

Indian IT companies shifted 90% of its staff to work-from-home following the coronavirus outbreak. A good chunk of them will continue in the same mode even after the crisis passes. TCS, the Indian IT major, plans to have only 25% of its workforce in office by 2025.

The post-pandemic office will be a balance between remote working and the innate human nature for physical contact. Flexible working and the issues around uptake is more a cultural issue than a tech issue. CIOs and IT leaders have their task cut out to:

• Provide the necessary infrastructure to facilitate work-from-home. 
• Take the lead in tweaking regulations that inhibit telecommuting. For instance, several call-centers and BPOs prevent transferring data outside the office premises.

The best-practice benchmarks will evolve over time.

Increased Digitalization

Not everything can become virtual. But COVID-19 has swept away many of the artificial barriers to moving online.

COVID-19 has triggered the uptake of useful online tools and products. Examples include online courses, home-schooling, virtual meetings, remote interviews, telemedicine, and more. The pace of such online adoption will sustain, forcing businesses to rely on a digital-dominant culture.

Among the digital technologies, videoconferencing and virtual reality will see major gains. Virtual Reality allows a mimic of real-life experiences from the confines of home or office. If putting on glasses can mimic a classroom or a meeting, there is less incentive to travel for the same experience.

Regulatory barriers to online resources and products will fall. For instance, the US HIPAA has permitted medical providers to use Skype and Gmail for communication.

Cultivating a Culture of Agility

Agility is the flavour of the season. Enterprises have always valued agility. Coronavirus has given a new impetus for everyone to become resilient, nimble, and adapt to changes. A business capable of changing how it functions to adapt to a crisis well stands a greater chance of success compared to “dinosaur” firms.

For the workforce, productivity, output, and impact have become much more important than before. The value of expertise and competency has shown up as firms rightsize their workforce. The slow down prompts many to reassess their careers, improve their skills and take steps towards personal agility.

The COVID-19 shock eroded resistance to change. Even when things get back to normal, the resistance to change is unlikely to return with the same vigour. The pandemic has raised awareness on the need for agility, and the need to respond to changing events fast.

A Premium on Sustainability

Agility leads to sustainability, and sustainability is a valuable competitive advantage for businesses. Sustainability means doing the right thing for the employees, customers, and other stakeholders. It could mean not firing employees during the shutdown, social outreach programmes, environmentally conscious processes, or anything else.

Top talent prefers to work in firms that prioritize sustainability. They evaluate the mission and action of the enterprise, to see if they preach and practice sustainability.

Customers will also value sustainability in greater numbers. For instance, they will change their consumption habits if the cheap burger they consume comes from a restaurant that cuts corners and increases their health risks.

The new Normal of Collaboration

COVID-19 has changed human collaboration from tech-assisted communication to virtual, technology-aided communication. This shift is as significant as it was sudden. A reversal is unlikely.

Collaboration and communication in-person tend to be off the record. Interaction is sequential, and the recipient gains more information from visual cues and tones than what the speaker says. Virtual collaboration and communication are on the record. The speakers and collaborators may remain anonymous. There is no extraneous aid to the written text or recorded voice, from which cues are harder to decipher.

Changes to Status-Quo Rules and Conventions

COVID-19 may trigger changes in the status-quo rules and conventions for the society, businesses, and the workplace.

The coronavirus pandemic marks the end of hyper-individualism. The virus has drilled down the fact humans live in an interconnected world, and an individual’s action has a bearing on others. Many governments are changing laws to increase controls over society. Some controls imposed to fight the pandemic may linger, underscoring the increasing tendency towards collectivism. 

Many businesses, forced into emergency measures, such as applying force majeure to rescind contracts, seek changes in the law to put in place such measures. For example, many airlines circumvent national and regional regulations that entitle passengers of cancelled flights to a full refund and issue travel vouchers instead. They lobby with their governments for changes in regulations to such effect. Whether the governments will allow such changes, whether such changes will be temporary or there will be a reversal when the crisis ends is hard to guess. But regardless of such outcomes, rules will change. Status-quos itself may become a dated concept. Changes according to the extraneous circumstances might become the new paradigm guiding businesses.

As the world rings in the throes of change, those with the right, positive culture and a drive to move with the times will thrive.